Retaining collar for food cabinets



Nov. 3, 1936. D. H. GASTON 7 3 RETAINING COLLAR FOR FOOD CABINETS FiledJan. 6, 1934 4! /li PE .2. 28

Inventor Donald H. Gaston,

H is Attorn e g.

Patented Now- 3,

Raranvnvo COLLAR FOR noon cannvn'irs I Donald H. Gaston, Fort Wayne,Ind., assignor 'to J General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkApplication January 6, 1934, Serial No. 705,557

. '8 Claims. (01. 220-45) Myinvention relates to food cabinets and thelike and, particularly, to devices for maintaining food containers inposition within such cabinets.

In food preserving cabinets and, particularly,

cabinet. Within the opening l and resting on a flange it came inner wallI3 is a circular liner I! of material provided with a metallic collar I8at the upper portion thereof. An

6 in such cabinets arranged for the dispensing of insulating cover l9fitting within the collar l8 6 frozen foods, such as ice cream,di'fiiculty is ireis provided to close the opening l5. Within the 1quently encountered because of the spilling of insulated side rails Illand in heat exchange food on the outside of the food containerberelation with the inner wall l3 are arranged tweenthe container andthe cabinetwalls. This conduits 20 which are utilized to maintain the 10creates an unsanitary condition and also results compartment within thecabinet at a predeter- 10 in loss of food. The probability ofspilling'food mined low temperature, by connecting them to is increasedin many instances, because the food a refrigerating machine, or'in anyother suitable containers are not held securely in place but may manner.An ice cream can or other food conmove when food such as ice cream isbeing retainer 2| is arranged within the compartment v moved therefrom.Retaining collars have been and rests on a supporting tray 22 on thebottom 15 proposed which hold the containers in place wallthereof. Inorder to prevent displacement and cover the opening between thecontainer of the ice cream container when ice creamis and the cabinetwalls; but these prevent circulabeing dipped therefrom, it is necessaryto protion of cold air overthe top of the container vide somearrangement to position the container and softening of frozen foodsresults. with respect to the cabinet walls. It is also 20 It is anobject of my invention to provide a desirable to prevent spilling of icecream becollar for preventing the spilling of foods between thecontainer and the cabinet, and at the tween the food container and thewalls of the same time to provide for a; circulation of cold foodpreserving compartment which shall retain air over the top of thecontainer to prevent 25 the. food container in position and which shall1 softening of the top of the ice cream therein. 25. also permit thecirculation of air about the top In accordance with my invention Iprovide a of the food container. and around the chilled retainingcollar,comprising an upwardly and compartment. outwardly flared deflecting ringfitting the open- A further object of my invention is to provide ing ofthe cabinet and a supporting ring spaced Q a collar for retaining a foodcontainer in position 'from the deflecting ring to permit circulation ofwithin a. chilled compartment while food is being air therebetween andfor securing the collar to taken therefrom which device shall be ofsimple the food container. i and rugged" construction andshall bereadily Referring again tothe drawing, in Figs. 1 and v removable. J v 2I have shown a retaining collar including an s 5 Further objects andadvantages of my invenupwardly and outwardly flared deflecting ring tionwill become apparent as the following de- 23 having an outer diameternearly equal to that scription proceeds, and the features of novelty ofthe liner H. The outer edge of the ring 23 which characterize myinvention will be pointed may be protected by a bead 24 of rubber or outwith particularity in the claims annexed to other suitable material"which will prevent -rat-" and forming a part of this specification.tling when'food is being taken from the container 40 Fora betterunderstanding of my invention- 2|. In order to support the ring 23 onthe 0011- reference may be had to the accompanying tainer 2|, I providea ring 25 having an upwardly drawing in which Fig. 1 is a sectionalelevation and outwardly flared flange 26 and arranged to of an ice creamcabinet and an ice cream can flt over the top of the can 2| with ashoulder 5 providedv with a retaining collar embodyi my 21 formed at thebase of the flange 26 resting on invention, and Fig. 2 is a perspectiveview of the the top edge of the container. The ring 23 isretainingcollar shownin Fig. l. p I 4 secured to the flange 26 by a plurality ofspaced 7 Referring now to Fig. l, I have shown an ice supports orbrackets 28 which provide ventilating cream cabinet comprising thermallyinsulated v openings between the ring 23 and the container side andbottom walls l0 and II respectively reand allow air to circulate throughthe retaining 50 tained between outer and inner sheet metal walls collarbetween the chilled compartment and "the i2 and I3 respectively. Thecabinet is provided container. The inside diameter of the ring 23- witha top wall ll within which is a circular is considerably less thantheoutside diameter opening l5 provided to give access to the ice of theflange 26. By this construction, 'the spillcream can or other foodcontainer within the ing of ice cream or other food into the compart-' rthe compartments or holes of an ice cream cabinet. When a can of icecream has been placed within the cabinet a collar is fitted to the topof the can. The outer edge of the deflecting ring 23 will then be inposition within the liner l1 and, since the ring 25 fits securely overthe edge of the can 2|, the can will be held firmly in place-and willnot move around or rattle when ice cream .is being removed there- ,from;Any particles of ice cream or food which claims to cover allmodifications within the spirit fall back through the compartmentopening toward the can will be deflected by the. ring 23- andwillfallinto the ice cream can instead of falling between the can and thecompartment walls. .Cold air from the compartment will readily circulateover the food within the con- .tainer 2| since the air may pass betweenthe ring 23 and the container, and the softening of the food such as icecream will thereby be prevented. 1

It will be apparent from the foregoing that I have provided a simple andrugged collar for retaining ice cream cans or similar food con,- tainerswithin cooling compartments, which collar1will prevent moving of thecontainers and spilling of food between the containers and the walls ofthe compartments and will permit a free circulation of air over the foodwithin the containers.

While I have shown and described my invention as applied to an ice creamcabinet, other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in theart and I do not desire my invention'to be limited to the specificembodiment shown and described, and I intend in the appended and scopeof my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is:

l. A collar for positioning a food container within a refrigeratedchamber, said collar comprising an outwardly and'upwardly flared ring,and means for providing ventilating openings 'between said ring and afood container and for supporting said ring on said food container.

,2. A collar for positioning a food container within a refrigeratedchamber, said collar comprising an outwardly and upwardly flared ring,and means including a second ring having an upwardly and outwardlyextending flange and providing ventilating openings between'said firstnamed ring and said second ring for supporting said first named ring onsaid food container.

3. A collar for positioning a food container within a refrigeratedchamber, said collar comprising an outwardly and upwardly flared ring,

,'on said food container.

4. A food dispensing cabinet including a chamber having side and bottomwalls, a food container arranged within said chamber and spaced from theside walls thereof, an upwardly and outwardly flared deflecting memberfor said food container, and means for providing ventilatingopeningsbetween said container and said deflecting'member and for supportingsaid deflecting member on said container.

5. A food dispensing cabinet including a chamber having side and bottomwalls, a cylindrical food container arranged within said chamber andspaced from the side walls thereof, an upwardly and outwardly flareddeflecting ring for said food container, and means including spacedsupports for providing ventilating openings -between said container andsaid deflecting ring and for supporting said deflecting ring on saidcontainer.

6. A food dispensing cabinet including a chamber having side and bottomwalls and a circular opening at the top thereof, a cylindrical foodcontainer arranged within said chamber and spaced from the side wallsthereof, an upwardly and outwardly flared deflecting ring arrangedwithin the opening in said chamber, a

second ring having an upwardlyand outwardly extending flange andengaging said food confrom the side walls thereof, an upwardly andoutwardly flared deflecting member for said 'food container, and meanshaving ventilating openings between said container and said deflectingmember for supporting saiddeflecting member on said container.

= I DONALD H. GASTON.

